The phrase ‘dog is man’s best friend’ might have some truth to it, according to two studies. These studies show that people have more empathy for these four legged friends than they do for people suffering.

A UK medical research charity decided to stage two donation campaigns, both being fake, to test the theory. “Would you give 5 pounds to save Harrison from a slow, painful death?” read the ads, with one featuring a human “Harrison” and the other a dog “Harrison.”

The dog drew in more donations than the man.

In another study from a Northeastern University conducted their theory with students, they were shown fake newspaper clippings about an attack on a puppy, an adult dog, a year-old infant and a 30-year-old adult with baseball bat

The study found that the only thing that could compete with dogs for the hearts of others was a baby. The adult come in last in drawing any empathy from the students asked questions on the fake articles.

“Respondents were significantly less distressed when adult humans were victimized, in comparison with human babies, puppies and adult dogs,” said the researchers from Northeastern University. “Only relative to the infant victim did the adult dog receive lower scores of empathy.”